TOWN HALL: Councilmember Lisa Herbold announces one for September 30th, focused on public safety & West Seattle Bridge

For the first time since April, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold will preside over an online “town hall.” The one five months ago (WSB coverage here) was all about the West Seattle Bridge; this one is scheduled to start with an hour about public safety, followed by an hour about the bridge. The announcement is in her just-published weekly update:

On September 30, I will co-host a District 1 Town Hall on public safety and the West Seattle Bridge, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

SPD Chief Diaz and SW Precinct Captain Grossman will be attending, along with SDOT Director Zimbabwe. There will also be a representative from LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) to talk about the expansion of the program to the SW Precinct.

The first hour will be on public safety, and the second hour will be on the West Seattle Bridge. There will be plenty of time for questions on each topic.

You can RSVP (here); later in the day Tuesday we’ll e-mail information to the RSVP list about how to participate in the Q&A, and view the town hall.

As noted further into Herbold’s weekly update, Wednesday is also the day the council starts work on the next budget, with the mayor officially delivering her proposal the day before.

Wsguy123 September 25, 2020 (6:02 pm)

Should be fun 😀

Dzag September 25, 2020 (7:18 pm)

This should be a great Town Hall. I hope Tim McConnell attends and maybe all parties can work together to develop long term solutions. I really respect him for being willing to express concerns. It’s the councils job to listen to ALL constituents whether they agree or not.

Kyle September 25, 2020 (9:33 pm)

Basic questions I hope they can answer:1. What caused the cracking on the bridge? 2. When will the bridge be fixed/replaced? 3. How much will the repair cost? Oh, we’re almost 6 months in without answers to any of these. I’ll skip and read the notes afterwards, hoping for anything of substance.

nadmercury September 26, 2020 (3:46 am)

The proposal to add six radar controlled signs intended to encourage drivers to obey the change in speed limit from 40mph to 30mph is a very expensive solution that is in search of a problem. The fact that 90 % of the drivers are going 40mph or greater with no significant serious accident history is a vivid indication that the posted 30mph speed limit is too low and should be changed back to 40mph to be in accord with reality. The proposal should be to change the speed limit back to 40mph; not expensive radar controlled signs. It’s time to reign in Mr. Zimbabwe and the SDOT from making expensive nonsensical changes!

BBILL September 26, 2020 (3:55 pm)

“with no significant serious accident history” Maybe read the WSB a bit more, as WSB regularly reports on vehicle accidents.

wsres September 26, 2020 (8:58 am)

I got an email back regarding the mess in Junction Plaza Park, from the Seattle team that works on helping the addicts and homeless.it was a nothing reply. No solutions from them. It is clear that public safety for people that pay taxes and vote in west seattle are not being listened to. And crickets from Lisa Herbold; not even a form canned response. She needs to be voted out. She ran on a platform of adding police and now has completely changed her tune. I understand the idea and need behind the defend the police, but from what I have heard the cuts are coming from the officers that help clear out homeless camps. I caught the tail end of a radio show that had said something to that effect. Can anyone confirm that?

Alan Ford September 26, 2020 (2:48 pm)

So now that the parochial interests with minority support among the Seattle population managed to strongarm the City Council into voting for experimental “solutions” that involve “outreach” to the homeless (whatever that is supposed to mean) and “partnering” with the homeless (LOL), now we’ll have a townhall to be told what we think?
Not absurdist enough yet? More than six month after the bridge closure, we still don’t even know whether we’re getting a fix or a replacement?
What happened to this city?

Mj September 26, 2020 (3:46 pm)

nadmercury – you are correct, the SDoT speed data clearly identifies the prior limit was appropriate and my review of the incident data shows that the corridor had a 25% lower incident rate than typical per WSDOT Annual Collision Summary data indicates in . It’s very annoying that SDoT that claims to be data driven yet continues to ignore data that does not fit their Agenda.

Jim Luce September 27, 2020 (10:51 am)

I challenge Lisa Herbold and SDOT to explain why WSB is more dangerous than other poorly maintain Seattle bridges which are still open to the public.And to hire a truly independent engineer to decide whether – beginning now – the WSB Bridge could be opened – with meter controls if necessary – to a limited number of single occupancy vehicles and mass transit.Seattle did a mass over react in closing the WSB and the question is can they modify their draconian position if an independent engineer agrees.There is a risk anytime we drive on a poorly maintained Seattle street and individuals accept that risk all the time.

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